Easy Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe with Coconut Milk

Chicken tikka masala is a delicious dish that takes time to make. But we can enjoy it more often using an easy chicken tikka masala recipe with coconut milk. The flavors will be bursting in every bite. It may even become a new family favorite.

An easy chicken tikka masala recipe with coconut milk can bring more Indian food into your home more often. There are so many different ways to make chicken, each one giving the chicken a distinct flavor.

One of the most popular ways to eat chicken is when it is covered in a flavorful sauce. We have things like chicken alfredo, BBQ chicken, bourbon chicken, Tuscan chicken, etc.

But one of the world’s most popular saucy chicken recipes is chicken tikka masala. The traditional recipe will have you prepping the chicken, skewering the pieces, and grilling it.

Mix and cook the sauce and seasonings separately before adding the finished chicken. Naan bread will round things out, making it a complete, delicious meal.

We all have our go-to weeknight dinners, many of which incorporate chicken. This means we won’t need to go too far off our usual routine to try something different for a weeknight meal.

This recipe is very easy, even if this is your first time trying to make a dish from your favorite Indian restaurant. Indian cuisine packs a lot of herbs and spices, which give it a ton of flavor.

The creamy sauce alone in this dish makes it seem like a difficult meal to put together on a busy weeknight. However, there are ways to make your favorite Indian dishes a little easier so that you can enjoy them without having to go to your local Indian restaurant. It all starts with the ingredient list.

Easy Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe with Coconut Milk

Coconut chicken tikka masala is a delicious dish that can take some time to make. However, one way to make it easier is to use a slow cooker chicken tikka masala recipe.

Slow cookers or crackpots allow you to toss the ingredients, turn them on, and go about your day. You will come home to a meal ready to serve and enjoy. Using a crockpot means having more complicated dishes any night of the week.

Of course, you will still want to do some things to make it even easier. For example, chicken tikka masala is usually served on skewers, but this is more like a butter chicken in that there are no skewers, just chicken breasts, and sauce.

You can also use chicken thighs for a bit more flavor if you’d like. Ultimately, the chicken tikka masala sauce will do most of the heavy lifting here. That is why the first place to start is with the ingredients list.

We want ingredients that provide us with a smooth sauce, a tikka sauce packed with flavor. We need fresh ingredients; prepping them is easier since the crockpot will do the cooking.

What to Serve with Chicken Tikka Masala

There are plenty of things you can make to serve with your easy chicken tikka masala recipe with coconut milk. This recipe uses basmati rice. However, you can also serve chicken tikka masala with white rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, or garlic naan bread.

You can decide what you like best. You can also top your chicken tikka masala with different things to enhance the flavor in new ways. A common tipping includes fresh cilantro.

However, you can also use chili powder, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, or golden brown onions. The possibilities are endless and offer us a chance to enjoy Indian-inspired recipes at home, any night of the week. 

Chicken Tikka Masala Ingredients

The star of the dish is the chicken. You can pick your favorite chicken brands, either breasts or thighs. However, you will need to filet breasts and dice thighs to make it easier to enjoy when it’s ready.

Fileting is simply slicing in half down the sides. You can also find chicken breast filets at the grocery store. Chicken thighs just need to be cut into cubes or small pieces.

Both are good options, but thighs will provide you with more flavor. This recipe combines creamy coconut milk and Greek yogurt to get that creamy sauce.

The classic recipe uses heavy cream for this, but using coconut milk and yogurt will give you even more flavor. A basic chicken tikka masala dish uses tomato as the base.

But this is coconut chicken tikka masala, so the coconut milk serves as the base. We still want that tomato flavor, though, and tomato paste will help keep the consistency of the sauce.

Get ready for a ton of flavor with the curry paste or curry powder. Curry is a traditional ingredient in Indian dishes and is what provides a lot of flavors. Of course, the seasonings will add more, but this is where the magic happens.

The rest of the seasonings include ground cumin, ground turmeric, ground coriander, paprika, garam masala, cayenne pepper, minced garlic, and minced ginger.

You will also want to have a large yellow onion on hand to add more to the dish.

How to Make Chicken Tikka Masala

Slice the chicken breast fillets into bite-sized chunks.

Mince your onion, ginger, and garlic.

Dump all your ingredients into the crockpot.

Cook on medium heat for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

Garnish with cilantro and serve over Basmati rice and some naan bread.

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